What would help the Temple Be A Better Place? Suggestions please...

Honestly, the first thought I had in response to this question was to make a bad joke out of it...

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What would help the temple be a better place?
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Better people. (cue laughter)
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But to answer more seriously-


1) I think more support and accountability of (and for) every individual would be help improve the temple! ...

... Support and accountability already exists between some members (Apprentices of the same knight for example often bond over the same material they're given to study) or through discussions on threads, but I believe this support could be further developed and encouraged by the temple from the beginning asking new starters to chat and help one another: it could take the form of an optional buddy system where you 'buddy up' with a fellow learner or 'peer' as it were to discuss the material. I think this would improve the community by creating more connections between people (and it could be presented and made in such a way as to encourage positivity, openess and kindness in those relationships).

2) Before joining a buddy system (see point 1) a couple of pointers could be read to help smoothen future relationships between buddies. We have a great variety of people and opinion here and it seems to me that a lesson in the IP asking A ) why might it be important to be able to discuss and debate with other people? B ) how do you discuss and debate positively? C ) What's important to you in a discussion? and then showing your answers to your buddy. This would be a valuable lesson I think.


3) I know this is a temple of jedi but I actually think there should be less focus on what it is to be a Jedi and more focus on certain concepts that should help understand ourselves and one another regardless of what name we take for ourselves, Jedi or not... (One concept I think would worth educating people about is *Confirmation Bias*- https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2017/05/confirmation-bias/ - well worth reading).

I've ran out of time it seems to continue writing sorry- but thankyou for your question and opportunity to think,

More of our lessons and content written by members themselves. One of the best points on Jediism is that it takes a plethora of idea's that have been around from other various religions, thrown in some more recent ones, and made it a more modern view of a belief system. However we still focus I think a little too heavily on books and documents and write ups from all the places where this comes from, and not enough writing from our own experiences to be shared and used as lessons. One of the reasons I spent a good chunk of time away from the temple and wrote the "tellahane's holocron" which recently just got approved and put in the library. We really need to see more genuine content written by people who have truly gone out and applied these lessons to their lives and are willing to write there experiences into lessons for others. While it's nice to be able to reference the history of a concept or idea for learning, this is about bringing it up to modern day views of the concepts. What better way then to shape them out of our own experiences on the path.

Here's my 2 cents:

What I think would make the temple a better place has either already been suggested (greater accountability from the higher ups... and more consistent presence, rather than disappearing for an extensive period of time and then returning to take that same office again)

-OR-

It's already in the process of being implemented. That is, to piggy back off of what Vusuki just suggested, a greater system of support. I'm speaking strictly to the outreach team that's in the process of being developed by the Clergy. If that were to get up and running and there to be greater outreach by members towards members who are clearly having a hard time or seem to be disappearing for unexplained reasons, I think it would go a long way to improve the overall purpose and atmosphere of the temple as a whole. One of the biggest problems I've both personally seen and heard others say is, they can clearly say they're having an issue with something, and yet they'll literally hear from no one. While I understand that it may happen from time, typically someone who's begun investing time in the site and the training program here won't just disappear one day for months at a time...unless something happened. And if that person gets no reach out at all, from anyone, what gives them a reason to come back in the slightest? At the very least, it's my hope that that outreach team might help with situations like that in the future.

The IP team, where it is able to, is also a good form of support. It is, unfortunately, severely understaffed.

Accountability from the top is a great idea. Term limits for Offices is a great idea in my opinion.

I am here to help provide a safe place for the free exchange of ideas and opinions. So that the membership can freely discuss things and have the temple governed in a fair and unbiased manner. Unfortunately, my duties cause me to spend a lot of time dealing with rank changes, processing applications, name changes, people banned from chat, moderating stuff like repeated posts, or moving stuff, creating areas, Approving minor for the minors sub forum, the list goes on and on. And for the last so long I have been fighting to keep the forums and the command structure unbiased and fair for all that come here and not just a select few.

That said, I don’t get to post as often as I would like sometimes. But I always try to make the effort.

So, I will let everyone here know that if anyone is unhappy with me or my performance just say so. I have no issue stepping down if the majority of active members think I am not doing my job. My job is to be of service to all of you.

Wescli Wardest wrote: Accountability from the top is a great idea. Term limits for Offices is a great idea in my opinion.

I am here to help provide a safe place for the free exchange of ideas and opinions. So that the membership can freely discuss things and have the temple governed in a fair and unbiased manner. Unfortunately, my duties cause me to spend a lot of time dealing with rank changes, processing applications, name changes, people banned from chat, moderating stuff like repeated posts, or moving stuff, creating areas, Approving minor for the minors sub forum, the list goes on and on. And for the last so long I have been fighting to keep the forums and the command structure unbiased and fair for all that come here and not just a select few.

That said, I don’t get to post as often as I would like sometimes. But I always try to make the effort.

So, I will let everyone here know that if anyone is unhappy with me or my performance just say so. I have no issue stepping down if the majority of active members think I am not doing my job. My job is to be of service to all of you.

Don't forget unbanning accidental chat bans! :lol:

And see for me (and I only speak for me), it's rather obvious which of the higher ups (of any sort) make the effort to be around and which are the sort to only come around when it appears to suit them.

Now I'll say this regarding "term limits".... There's only so many (obviously) active knights about. It would seem to me that putting such things into place would ultimately end up in... Well Wes I'll use you as an example because I'm quoting your post. Wes mets his term end, steps down, one day later steps back up because... Who else is suitable to take on his role? Or maybe he steps down from his current role and then 6 months later is stepping up to another role because that person's term has expired and Wes is the only suitable replacement at that time. That's the situation we run into with that. If TOTJO were larger and had more qualified, consistently active individuals around, that would be one thing, but that currently (based on my observations, so I admit I could be wrong!) is not the case.

That said....whoops. Times up. I'll finish this thought later. But I do have a counter point I'd like to make when I get the chance later today. *Puts it on her to do list*

Avalonslight wrote: Wes mets his term end, steps down, one day later steps back up because... Who else is suitable to take on his role?

So long as that's the case, there's not a problem with Wes staying in the role. This is more about post holders who aren't showing up anymore, or aren't obviously effective in their roles. Right now the only mechanism for replacing them with effective people is waiting for them to decide to step down. That seems... silly. And even then, they have been replaced by similarly inactive members... so the problem is compounded.

The other thing is we can only guess who they are, because we don't have any visibility on what individual Councillors do (or don't do). Or even what they're supposed to be doing. People most of us don't know get to decide how this place works, if they show up, because once upon a time it was decided they should. That seems really crap to a lot of us... this place is a big part of our beliefs, it matters to us, we show up. And then a stranger declares themselves in charge and starts throwing their weight around... that's an unpleasant experience.

I have no doubt some councillors do a lot of work. I also know for a fact several don't. How about sharing that work between multiple active councillors? How about delegating some of that work to non-Council members so that Councillors remain part of the community? How is it people can claim to represent the best interests of this community when they're not engaged in it?

Like I said... you can't be a leader if you're a stranger.

" Right now the only mechanism for replacing them with effective people is waiting for them to decide to step down."

There is another mechanism, it takes a magority vote in Council. But that is a LOT harder to do when it comes to removing someone than one might think.

That said, I am certain that if memebrs, especially knights, made a petition, it would be considered with some merit of wieght. Of course it would take more than one or two people being a part of the petition. But each member of council is here to serve you, the membership. Not the other way around. Your voices have weight. Your opinions have merit.

It's great that you're telling us this now, but it's exactly indicative of my point that you have to tell us, rather than this being something known by the general membership.

And yes, removing anyone from a job role they're not performing in is really hard, when you don't set expectations for the job role, and promote people because they're your friends...

Would be happy to provide progress reports on the work of the Clergy once per month. Unless it concerns personel (who's names will be redacted for privacy), I'm happy to provide a report for information only

Most jobs don’t have set expectations except those that directly involve members or the rank progression somehow. And these are easy to monitor because things either get done, or they don’t. LOL :laugh: They should have expectations, but in all fairness, it’s hard enough to get people to do them the way they want let alone the way we think they should be done.

Nothing against anyone, but look at the clergy for example. Every time new leadership takes over the first order of business is change. May be for the better, maybe not. Who knows? But if we set restrictions and expectations, how many would volunteer to do it? We allow that free range so that things can grow, change and evolve and hopefully the day to day gets done as well.

Voting out someone is in the bylaw section of the charter of incorporation I believe. But that is always an option in any charitable community unless their bylaws state otherwise. Just a friendly FYI

I would hope that Knights know that their voices hold weight here. The mission of the Council over the last few years has to been to get knights more involved and running the temple. That was the running theme when I joined Council and it has never changed for me.